West Woodland Hills residents make plea for additional patrols

A vocal contingent of residents from Dayton’s West Woodland Hills subdivision gave Liberty County commissioners and the sheriff an earful at their meeting on Aug. 13. The residents were requesting additional patrols and help for what they have viewed as a sharp rise in crime in their neighborhood.

I moved from Channelview to get away from the dope and trash, and now my street is the same as it was in Channelview,” said a frustrated James Martin.

Martin has lived in West Woodland Hills for the last 13 years and said he’s even found some perpetrators “naked in the ditch making love to the mailbox.”

“I’ve called the cops, but I never see them take anyone away,” he complained.

Lynn Kelly told commissioners the subdivision has been burglarized 16 times in the past month alone.